carnival of bureaucrats

Recordkeeping is a core bureaucratic function. A recent scientific article, while cowardly eschewing the term bureaucracy, described these findings from economic experiments investigating recordkeeping: Recordkeeping improves memory of past interactions in a complex exchange environment, which promotes reputation formation and decision coordination. Economies with recordkeeping exhibit a beneficially altered economic history where the risks of … Continue reading COB-33: bureaucratic recordkeeping

Ants are second only to humans in bureaucratic excellence. Study of ants thus potentially provides important insights into bureaucratic behavior. Recently scientists observed ant meetings with purported high-level ant management: Clustering around the speaker, worker ants stay motionless in a hunched-over posture with antennae out and jaws slightly open. Like an honor guard around a … Continue reading COB-32: exploiting bureaucracy

Perhaps the most important government bureaucrats are tax collectors.  Tax collectors, like other bureaucrats, tend to be humble and self-effacing.  Yet no one should doubt the honor and glory that tax collectors and other quintessential bureaucrats will ultimately receive. A leading communications industry analyst long ago warned of misunderstanding bureaucrats. He set out the example … Continue reading COB-31: honor and glory

Many workers in entrepreneurial, innovative, and initiative-oriented positions take holidays about this time of year.  Bureaucratic work allows no such change. The telephone system must continue to connect calls, the mail must continue to be carried, light must continue to shine, wind must continue to blow, and the government must continue to function.  Similarly, the … Continue reading COB-30: maintaining position

Modern bureaucratic art is unjustly deprived of the spotlight it deserves in leading museums and galleries in Washington, D.C. The Hirshhorn’s museum’s ongoing exhibition, The Panza Collection, leads the way with a needed expansion of artistic appreciation. One work exhibited is Lawrence Weiner’s REDUCED. The exhibition documentation explains: Lawrence Weiner gained international recognition in the … Continue reading COB-29: modern bureaucratic art